Maine and New Hampshire have installed their first Safe Haven Baby Boxes, bringing the total number of states that offer the option to 26.
The Safe Haven Baby Boxes organization announced the two new boxes last week, marking the first devices in New England, Live Action News reported. The boxes were recently installed in Manchester, New Hampshire, and Rumford, Maine.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes were created to deter parents from abandoning their newborns in unsafe places, potentially leaving them to die. Baby boxes are temperature-controlled incubators, often built into exterior walls of fire stations, police stations, and hospitals, and can be accessed from inside. At-risk mothers can safely and legally place their newborns inside the baby box. Then the outside door locks, and mothers have time to leave before an alarm goes off alerting first responders or hospital staff inside.
The baby is then quickly removed and sent to a hospital for a wellness check. From there, the baby is usually placed into state custody and often quickly adopted.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes launched nine years ago in Indiana and has expanded nationwide with at least 425 locations. More than 70 newborns have been surrendered to baby boxes across the United States, according to the organization. Safe Haven Baby Boxes also says it has assisted at least 150 people with safe surrenders to other safe haven locations.
In Maine, the Rumford Fire Department held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the state’s first baby box on May 12. Funding for the device was raised by Maine Right to Life, according to the report.
“We are grateful for the dedication of the Rumford Fire Department and Chief Reed, whose leadership and willingness to serve made this life-saving resource possible,” said Lori Cloutier, Board President of Maine Right to Life. “Safe Haven Baby Boxes are about preserving life, ensuring safety, and responding to crisis situations with care rather than judgment.”
In New Hampshire, community leaders unveiled the state’s first Safe Haven Baby Box on May 13 at the Manchester Central Fire Station.
“I’m very happy that it’s finally done, it was worth all the aggravation,” Catherine Kelley, director of Pennacook Pregnancy Center, which funded the project, said, according to the Union Leader. “I’m thrilled and I know it will be used. It will be bittersweet, but it will mean that somebody had an opportunity to do the right thing for their baby that they couldn’t care for — that’s what I’m happy about.”
The community pushed for a Safe Haven Baby Box in Manchester after a newborn baby was found dead in a city pond last year, according to the report. The community organized a funeral for the baby girl, who was named Baby Grace, and the child’s mother was later arrested and charged with murder.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes has a confidential National Safe Haven Hotline, 1-866-99BABY1, that provides free counseling and information about safe surrenders, including face-to-face surrenders.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
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